Scholars Question Viability of Trump Verdict, Supporters Rally as His Fundraising Site Crashes

Former President Donald Trump is vowing to fight on after a New York City jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts in his "hush money" case.

"This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people," Trump told reporters after hearing the verdict.

His legal team says it's planning to appeal, but in the meantime, supporters are rallying behind the Trump campaign. His 2024 presidential fundraising website crashed overnight, overwhelmed with donations following Thursday's verdict. The site shows a mug shot of Trump from another case and declares him to be a "political prisoner."

"We didn't do a thing wrong. I'm a very innocent man and it's ok," said Trump.

Democrats are also looking to cash in with President Biden posting a link to his fundraising website minutes after Trump's conviction. Meanwhile, the White House Counsel's Office commented simply, "We respect the rule of law and have no additional comment."

"While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manor as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Republican lawmakers continue to stand by Trump, calling it a political prosecution.

"This is the quintessential show trial, this is what you see in communist countries. This is what I grew up having people in this community tell me about happened after the Castro revolution," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Legal experts, meanwhile, question whether the verdict will hold up.

"This is a target-rich environment for appeal, many of us believe there are layers of reversible error here and in the end, he could well be vindicated," George Washington School of Law Professor Jonathan Turley said on Fox News.

"There's some real serious legal questions here because for this to still be a viable criminal case it had to be connected to a felony. The effort to hide the hush money had to be used in the commission of another crime, and it was unclear what the court was going to do with that because the other crime would be some kind of federal election fraud crime, which Mr. Trump wasn't charged with and hasn't been convicted of," Regent University School of Law Professor Brad Jacob told CBN News.

Jacob says this was the weakest of the cases against Trump, but he doesn't expect the others to play out anytime soon.

"The best current read is nothing else has any chance of getting to verdict before the November election," he predicted. 

Although it's considered unlikely, the former president does face up to four years in prison for each of the 34 charges he's been convicted of in the New York City case. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11th, just four days before the Republican convention. 

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